All This Time
by LoveActuallyFan
Summary: FF4K! This is my one-shot contribution to the FanFic4Kids for Sanctuary4Kids initiative. Please read and review and I'll donate AUS 2 to S4K per review. This is set just after the Season 4 Finale. Teslen angst and fluff!


**Hi there! :) This is my contribution to FanFic4Kids. It is set just after the season finale of season four and deals with the Teslen reaction after the epic "Kiss". It is inspired by the song "All This Time" by OneRepublic. If you haven't heard it, go and download it! It is amazing!**

**Anyway, If you don't already know about FF4K - for every review left to this piece, I shall donate AUS$2 towards Sanctuary4Kids :) So get reviewing and perhaps you can make me broke! Teehee :P**

**Enjoy it, and go and read Emmy1512's and chartreuseian's contributions as well!**

**Disclaimer: Sanctuary4Kids and FF .net are in no way invloved in FF4K, this is just our idea to raise money for a worthy cause :)**

* * *

><p><strong>All This Time<strong>

He sat in his darkened room, artificial rain pounding against his window, his mind racing. He'd not been able to sleep for a week. His vampirism did allow him to need less sleep than the average mortal, yet no sleep for seven straight days was not recommended. None the less, Nikola Tesla was still wide awake, and his thoughts were still bouncing around his head at a blinding speed. They had been doing that ever since 'the kiss'. He'd officially dubbed it that, in his mind, as it had been at that moment his whole life had changed.

He could still remember the soft press of her lips against his and the way she gripped onto his waist as she leaned in for a breathtaking kiss. He'd been so bewildered that he'd had to grasp onto her arm to steady himself. It was over all too quickly, and he again felt his heart clench tightly at the memory of the loss of contact. He'd barely heard her soft and breathy plea to, "Go. Quickly."

Nikola scrubbed his hand over his face distractedly, his heavy eyes begging for sleep but his mind denying him the bliss of oblivion. He gripped the arms of the chair he was seated in tightly - she was consuming his every thought. The way she turned her head to look at him with those eyes; the way she snaked her hand behind his neck to pull him into that kiss; the way she smelled; the way she tasted. He slammed his hands down onto the leather chair and snarled. He couldn't take it anymore. He had to find her - New Sanctuary and 'pressing matters' be damned. As he rose and stalked towards his door he pushed at the memories of the past week that clawed at his sleep-deprived mind.

When she'd blown the Old Sanctuary to bits he'd never felt so utterly lost in all of his long life.

**Six on the second hand**

**Two New Year's resolutions**

**And there's just no question**

**What this man should do**

_As he pulled himself and Henry up he looked back to where he'd left her. It was entirely decimated, flames engulfing the whole area. He felt sick to his stomach and momentarily shifted into his vampiric form. His eyes swirling black and his nails piercing through his own suit as they extended without warning, he let out what he was sure was a whimper before stumbling blindly towards the wreckage. He found her surprisingly quickly, her body surrounded by bits of burning Sanctuary. He collapsed next to her, turning her over slowly, afraid of what he might find. Miraculously, all that seemed to be amiss were a few cuts and bruises._

"_Helen!" he gasped out, cradling her in his arms as he sat on the floor. His pristine suit was in tatters, and he wiped away some dirt that was smudged across her cheek. She stirred slightly and he clung to her, brushing away her bangs._

"_Helen! Oh... thank God..." _

_She smiled, dazed, up at him._

"_Niko...la..."_

"_You're going to be okay, you're fine... Helen, no! Don't close your eyes!" He forced her to look at him as her eyelids fluttered, desperately hoping to keep her awake. The suit Henry had designed was digging into his thighs uncomfortably as he held her, trying to keep her with him when said HAP came running over to the pair._

"_Here," he gasped, thrusting a bottle of water at Nikola, "Miracle water... It'll help."_

_As gently as he could, Nikola lifted Helen's head allowing her to sip gingerly from the bottle. Both he and Henry waited with baited breath until she coughed a few times and her eyes became clear._

"_Nikola? Henry?" she said, her hand coming up to clutch at her head._

"_Doc!" Henry smiled._

"_Come on, we're getting you out of here," Nikola whispered, sweeping her up in his arms and standing up. _

"_There's a car two blocks away," Henry informed him as he headed for a gap in the Sanctuary's wall, burning bits of rubble still surrounding them._

"_How long have you been planning this?" Nikola asked incredulously as he followed, Helen safe in his arms. _

**Take all the time lost**

**All the days that I cost**

**Take what I took and**

**Give it back to you**

As Nikola stalked through the New Sanctuary's long, wide corridors he couldn't help but shudder at the image of her, limp and battered, that was seared into his mind. Yes, Henry's suit had protected her and the miracle water had helped, but he'd been so utterly terrified of losing her that he could barely think straight on their drive to the underground Sanctuary she'd been hiding.

**All this time**

**We were waiting for each other**

**All this time**

**I was waiting for you**

_Henry seemed to know where he was going, so Nikola just held Helen in his arms, rocking her gently as she flittered in and out of consciousness. _

"_Nikola?" she whispered, her hand tightening on his arm. He immediately darted a hand to cup her cheek, shushing her._

"_Don't speak, you're safe," he breathed and she managed a small smile up at him. Her eyes were cloudy with pain and confusion. He smiled softly down at her as she raised the hand that was resting on his arm and traced her blood-flecked fingers over his cheek lightly. _

"_I'm sorry," she whimpered out, before she sighed out a long breath and lost consciousness once more._

**We got all these words**

**Can't waste them on another**

**So I'm straight in a straight line**

**Running back to you**

Nikola moved stealthily and silently, his lack of sleep not affecting his vampiric ability to go unnoticed. Even though it was late at night, there were still a few employees shuffling about. He'd just about got the hang of the New Sanctuary's layout, but he occasionally got lost, the sleek modernism making every floor look the same. He knew he was getting close, though, as the building around him began to take on a more ancient feel and the decor became more homely. He remembered the first time he'd hurried down this particular corridor – she'd just regained consciousness after two days of being out cold.

**I don't know what day it is**

**I had to check the paper**

**I don't know the city**

**But it isn't home**

"_Helen!" He burst into her room, she was standing right in the middle of her Persian rug, faltering horribly and reaching out to steady herself. "You should not be up!" Nikola ran to her and grasped her waist just as she would have fallen over, holding her tight to him._

_She squirmed in his arms and mumbled, "Mfine... wantedwater..."_

_Nikola sighed before hauling her towards her own bed and tucking her in. She looked at him blearily as he left her side and grabbed a bottle of water from across the room. He hadn't had a chance to speak to her since she'd come to. Doctors had been swarming in and out but had finally left, satisfied she'd make a full recovery. Now that he was sitting at her bedside, cracking open a bottle of water and tenderly tipping it so that she could drink, he had no idea where to begin. So, instead of putting his foot in his mouth, which was the inevitable conclusion, he just helped her to drink until she held up her hand to signal she'd had enough. He screwed the lid onto the bottle slowly, his eyes focusing anywhere but on hers as he rested the half-filled container on her bedside table._

_The decor of her room was a perfect match to her old one. There were objects from all the eras she'd been alive and a few photos dotted around. The most compelling feature of her room though, for Nikola anyway, was that it smelled like her. It was her unmistakable scent. The scent he'd been so enraptured by for over a hundred years. Everything that resided there was unmistakably Helen Magnus. Taking a deep breath he flashed her a smile, still not fully meeting her eyes, and rose to leave._

"_Wait." He heard her croak beside him and he froze, his gaze finally connecting with hers. She reached out a weak hand to him, her fingers stretching towards his hand as she stared into his eyes and his own fingers twitched at the anticipated contact. When her reach did not quite make it to him he extended his hand to her and she immediately wound her fingers around his limply. Nikola swallowed hard before sitting down slowly, placing his other hand over their entwined ones._

_She gave him a crooked smile and opened her lips to speak. As the first tendrils of words escaped her she was interrupted by her door bursting open with a loud bang._

"_Doc!" Henry exclaimed, his chest rising and falling rapidly as he stood in the doorway, he seemed relieved. "I saw all the signals flat line," he said quickly, hurrying over to all the monitoring equipment which Helen had ripped off in her attempt to cross her room. He sighed as he saw that the only problem was that they were no longer attached to her._

_Helen quickly pulled her hand from Nikola's grasp, drawing it back to her body as she avoided eye contact. Henry began to speak to her, but Nikola paid no attention to his words. All he could feel was the loss of her fingers between his and the look in her eyes as she had pulled back from him. Standing up abruptly, he mumbled an excuse before he strode form her room, leaving Henry to dote on her._

**But you say I'm lucky**

**To love something that loves me**

**But I'm torn as I could be**

**Wherever I roam, hear me say**

Nikola growled and pushed away the memory of the rejection. As he gently padded towards the large door which was her bedroom he tried to think of how he would start. Would he just come out with it? Would he let her say what she was feeling first? He was more confused than he'd been in his entire life, and it was completely her fault. Before the kiss he'd known, at least he'd thought he'd known, where he stood. On the sidelines. He'd flirt with her, she'd knock him back, he'd make a move and she'd side-step him, he'd tell her that he loved her and she would flinch away. That was how it was, but how it was now? He didn't have a clue, and she hadn't helped matters.

**All this time**

**We were waiting for each other**

**All this time**

**I was waiting for you**

_It was the day after she'd woken up, the day after she'd pulled away from him, and Nikola was pacing outside of her bedroom. He'd been running the situation around in his head for most of the day, wondering how he could have misunderstood her? Could it really have meant nothing? Was it just a goodbye kiss? Her last kiss? And he just happened to be there? Was that really it?_

_He stopped abruptly as he heard her voice filter through her slightly ajar door._

"_No, I'm fine, I really am... Henry! I feel much better... stop fussing!"_

"_You cannot go back to work so soon!"_

"_Henry, darling, it's just a bit of paperwork. I need to have it done by tomorrow. Please, I promise I won't set foot in my office for at least a week... or maybe a few days... maybe just today..."_

"_You haven't fully recovered yet!"_

"_I'm fine!"_

"_You're not, you need to rest."_

"_Henry!"_

"_Mom!" It just slipped out. He'd stopped calling her mom when he'd hit puberty and had found it odd to be calling her it, from then on she'd been Doc. Henry blushed and looked to his feet, shuffling them awkwardly. Helen smiled softly at him and sat back in her bed, relenting just this once._

"_Alright, I'll not do anything today. I promise."_

_Henry smiled at that and nodded, his eyes still averted before he exited her room, running straight into the pacing vampire. _

"_Dude!" he exclaimed and righted himself, giving Nikola a strange look before hurrying away. Fabulous, now he had to enter her room, she knew he was there. Edging his way in cautiously he stopped in the doorway. She looked a hell of a lot better. She was sitting up, her back propped up against multiple pillows and a faint sparkle had returned to her eyes, despite their hollow and darkened appearance. She stared at him in shock for a few moments before speaking._

"_Nikola, come in."_

_He gulped down a wave of nausea and entered her room, padding softly to her prone form. As he neared her their eyes locked. All his thoughts went silent at the sight of her gorgeous sapphire eyes staring into his and he didn't stop two feet away from her side, as he had planned. No, he kept walking, only halting when his thighs brushed the side of her bed. She blinked up at him, taken aback at his sudden closeness. Nikola's eyes darted from her eyes to a particularly large gash on her forehead and his hand instinctively came up to caress the broken flesh, his eyes growing sad at the thought of her being hurt._

_Helen held her breath as she felt him caress her injury gently, she knew what it took for Nikola Tesla to touch another human being. He was always so germ and hygiene conscious that he nearly never engaged in skin to skin contact. His touch was soft and timid, as if he wasn't sure whether she wanted that kind of contact. She sighed into his touch and closed her eyes, it had been years since she'd been caressed so lovingly by someone and she was determined to lose herself in the feeling. _

_Nikola saw her eyes flutter closed and his heart skipped a beat. Pushing all niggling thoughts from his mind he leaned forwards, his hand sliding around to cup her cheek, and touched his lips to her own slightly parted ones. He felt her gasp in a sudden breath and stiffen at the unanticipated action and he mentally cursed himself. He'd ruined it. She'd never speak to him again. Maybe he __**had**__ gotten the wrong end of the stick? He was about to rip his lips from hers, make a snarky comment and exit when he felt her moan softly against his lips and return the pressure. He clutched on to her incrementally tighter then, his mind drawing a complete blank at her willingness to let this happen._

_Nikola jumped slightly at the shrill sound of her telephone ringing right beside them but did not give up his hold on her, his lips still fused to hers. He was startled as she ripped herself away from him and lunged for the phone, answering it in a professional voice that gave away nothing to her recent activities._

_Nikola stood, breathing heavily by her bedside, staring at her as she spoke to someone important. He heard her give a short laugh to whoever was one the other end of the line and he swallowed hard, she still had not met his eyes. As she carried on the conversation without a second glance to him he began to feel foolish. She gave him no gesture, no eye contact and acted as though he'd never been there. That he'd not just kissed her. _

**We got all these words**

**Can't waste them on another**

**So I'm straight in a straight line**

**Running back to you**

Nikola remembered storming out of her room after their second kiss. Once he was far enough away from her room he'd let out a stream of Serbian profanities that caused some of the employees traipsing around to jump back out of his way as he thundered away from the embarrassment he'd had to endure. He had to fight the urge to swear again as he stood outside Helen's door, ready to confront her about everything. And he did mean everything, because the little escapade which he'd been so upset about was not their last.

**Yeah, all running back to you**

**All running back to you**

_He'd taken a good day and a half to stop wanting to spew forth obscenities when he thought of their second kiss. What the hell was she doing to him? He was way too proud to ever be embarrassed like that. He didn't understand and it was killing him. He'd arrived at her bedroom, striding in with his jaw set firmly, but she wasn't there. He stood, gaping at her immaculately made bed, for a second before turning on his heel and trying to find her office._

_After a half-hour of searching, and refusing to take directions from anyone, he eventually reached a sleek door which bore her name, Dr. Helen Magnus. Clearing his throat he made a purposeful entrance for a second time, not bothering to knock. _

_He was startled as he found her standing rather more close to him than he expected. She'd been halfway through opening a drawer on an antique filing cabinet which stood close to the door he'd just flung open. Her head snapped up at the intrusion and their eyes met for a brief, dangerous, second before Nikola's gaze dropped to inspect what she was doing. He decided it was nothing of importance and he recaptured her eyes, glaring at her fiercely. She'd nearly fully recovered, her cuts and bruises fading away. She studied him for a long moment. She knew that look, he'd used it many a time when he'd refused to take 'no' for an answer. Surely he knew what that look did to her? Surely he knew that it made her knees feel as though they'd rattle apart any second. He must know what the searing look in his eyes did to her heart rate. _

_She slammed the filing cabinet shut at this. He'd avoided her for nearly two days and then he just decided to barge in and give her 'that' look. Well, she wouldn't have it. What kind of game was he playing?_

_At the forceful slam of the cabinet Nikola's eyes grew a shade darker and he noticed the light flush which had crept up her neck, its tendrils reaching out from under the black turtle-neck she was wearing. He opened his mouth to speak but his voice betrayed him and he was forced to purse his lips together. Her eyes flittered down to his lips and lingered there for a long while before they seared into his own eyes again and he was lost. So completely lost. _

_Diving for her, his arms were wrapped around her body in seconds, dragging her flush against him, her chest pushed harshly against his. There was obviously something in her hands as he heard it flutter and crash to the floor. He didn't bother to find out what it was, his eyes were totally mesmerized by hers. _

"_Helen!" he gasped out huskily before claiming her lips in a rough kiss, his shaking hands sliding up and over her black pencil skirt and her sweater before thrusting into her chocolate brown hair. Helen let out a strangled moan before clutching at his back, digging the tips of her nails into his toned muscles. She revelled in the feel of his strong body pressed up against her and pulled him even closer, their bodies moulding together perfectly. She melted against him as his tongue slid against her bottom lip, begging for entrance. She was just about to give it to him wholeheartedly before the emergency alarm in the New Sanctuary started to blare, drowning out even her thoughts. She vaguely heard her name being called over and over again over the loudspeaker in her office, her employees desperate for her to fix the situation. _

_Using every available ounce of self-control she pulled away from Nikola, not daring to look him in the eyes after another interruption. She felt a deep growl resonate around her as he disentangled their bodies and stormed from the room, leaving her gasping for breath, lightheaded and slightly disoriented._

**Oh, every time is so far**

**It's just so far**

**To get back to where you are**

As Nikola raised his fist to knock on her bedroom door he closed his eyes, steadying his breathing and trying not to think of their fourth kiss. The one that had happened not more than two days previously. He'd not been looking for her then. He'd been exploring the new facilities, trying to take his sleep-deprived mind off of the way her lips felt beneath his own.

**All this time**

**We were waiting for each other**

**All this time**

**I was waiting for you**

_He wandered around the expansive new library, thumbing books that took his fancy and browsing through them, slightly astonished at the collection she'd accumulated over the years. It was as he was glancing over a book dedicated to unravelling the mysteries of his own life that he heard the tell-tall drumming of heels on pristine wooden flooring. His face dropped the smirk that had fixed itself there from reading about his own 'innermost secrets'. He couldn't face her rejection and confusion again. He just couldn't. So he hid. Like a damn coward. _

_He pressed himself up against one of the furthest-most bookshelves and steadied his breathing so that it could almost not be heard. He grimaced and clutched the book to his chest as he heard her approaching footsteps. He could make out her form as she travelled to the furthest bookshelves, looking down to a old tome in her hands as she walked. He looked around desperately for some escape as it seemed she would walk right past him. She didn't. She stopped and turned right into him as she turned the corner to reach the shelf she wanted. _

_She gasped as she felt her body come into contact with something that felt suspiciously like a human being and she felt said human's arm wrap around her and pull her up against him. _

"_Nikola!" she cried, when she realised that it was no human she could just make out in the half-light. She gulped loudly at their close proximity and glanced down to the book he was clutching – now pressed between them. She frowned down at it before smirking up at him._

"_Really, Nikola? Your biography? Could you be any more vain?" she breathed nervously, her breath flickering across his face. He couldn't help but smirk back at her, extracting the book from between them and laying it on the shelf next to him, his eyes never leaving hers. When he was in the same room as her he just couldn't help himself. Now that he'd tasted her he would be addicted to her lips for the rest of his life, of this he was sure. She stared up at him and bit down on her lip slightly. It felt so good to be held by him once more, his strong arms pulling her even closer._

"_Nikola..." she began and he looked expectantly at her, his eyes wide and full of an emotion that she couldn't fully distinguish. She was lost for words as they stared at one another, both their heart rates skyrocketing. She moaned softly before she captured his lips with hers, surrendering herself to her need to be as close as possible to him. It was a soft kiss, a sweet kiss, at least it was meant to be. She barely registered that her lips were on his again before he fisted a hand in her hair and twisted her head to the side, his lips parting her own as his tongue slipped into her mouth, this time not asking politely for permission. She clutched onto his jacket sleeves then, the taste of him utterly intoxicating. She was startled when he pulled back abruptly, her senses still swimming languidly through a sea of pleasure. She gasped in air quickly and blinked up at him. She hadn't expected to see what she did. Anger. Unbridled, furious anger. She opened her mouth to speak but as quickly as she'd been in his arms, she'd been shoved aside. She was left staring at him as he ran away from her, crashing through the library and slamming the door behind him._

**We got all these love**

**Can't waste them on another**

**So I'm straight in a straight line**

**Running back to you**

Nikola knocked on the door harshly, his anger still bubbling away. He couldn't believe she had been doing what she had been to him. His life no longer made sense to him and she was playing with him. He had to confront her. He waited a few moments before he heard her give her consent to enter. Taking a deep breath he steadied himself before stepping in.

**I'm straight in a straight line**

**Running back to you, yeah**

**Straight in a straight line**

**Running back to you**

"Nikola," she gulped, sitting up in bed and brushing her hair away from her face. He faltered as he closed the door and saw her, her hair all mussed and her eyes bleary.

"Helen, I...You were asleep, I didn't realise the time," he said, his anger deflating the instant he saw her. Helen smiled softly at him, she hadn't been sleeping at all. She'd been cuddled up against her pillow fighting her insomnia and letting hot tears streak down her cheeks. As Nikola moved further into her room he seemed to realise that sleep was not the cause of her current state. He came to a stop at the end of her bed, his hands grasping onto two posts of her four-poster bed. He dropped his head sheepishly and fiddled with the intricately carved wood.

"Nikola?" she enquired, swallowing hard and wiping her cheeks to make sure she'd brushed away all her tears.

"We need to talk about this," he said suddenly, raising his eyes to meet hers. She nodded solemnly and looked to her bunched hands. "We can't keep ravaging each other without saying a word every time we're in the same room." He almost managed a smile as he spoke. "No matter how good it... no matter how _right_ it feels."

She flinched slightly at his words but covered her shock well. Nikola Tesla had never gotten to the point so quickly in his entire life.

"I'm sorry, Nikola," he whispered into her hands. He frowned, still frozen at the end of her bed.

"Sorry? Sorry for what?"

She pursed her lips, twirling her bed sheets between her fingers.

"For doing that to you. Nikola, I never should have kissed you just before I... Just before that."

Nikola's throat closed up as he took in her words, his heart dropping into his stomach. He said nothing, afraid he would make the situation even worse.

"You mean more to me than just a quick peck, Nikola. I just... I didn't think I'd make it. I know Henry's brilliant and he'd fixed the power source to the jacket but... but I just couldn't have left you not knowing. I needed you to know."

Nikola slowly met her teary eyes, his jaw clenching painfully at her words.

"Know what?" he breathed, barely able to be heard across the room. She looked at him incredulously for a second before she gasped out her answer.

"God, Nikola, isn't it obvious?"

Oh, that made him angry.

"No! No it's not bloody obvious. If it were obvious, Helen, I would have been sleeping like a baby rather than torturing myself for a week and not sleeping for as single second. If it were _obvious_, it would not hurt as much as it does. If it were _obvious_, I wouldn't be standing here getting my heart ripped out by somebody who _obviously_ doesn't really care!" He was gripping on to her bed tightly as he almost shouted at her, his knuckles white and his eyes flicking to deep black for a second. He was tired and it showed, his restraint on his vampirism when he was angered was slipping.

"Nikola..." Helen began, in awe of him for a second.

"No, don't 'Nikola' me. I've been going out of my mind here! And you've been no help whatsoever! After... after that kiss... Helen, I thought I'd lost you for good. I never thought I'd see you again. Do you have any idea what that did to me? You gave me hope, only to cruelly rip it away from me."

Helen stared at him imploringly, her hands aching to reach out to him.

"Nikola..."

"And then since then! You... you kiss me back Helen, you..." He faltered and looked away from her as his eyes went solid black and his teeth elongated into jagged points.

Helen was distraught at seeing him so distraught. Moving quickly, and without thinking she flung the sheets off of her and crawled down her bed, making her way over to where her vampire stood, still trying to grapple with his transformation.

"Nikola..."

"You kiss me back..." he growled at her, his voice deep and menacing and imbued with an ancient power that Helen had never admitted, not even to herself, made her go weak at the knees. She sighed and kneeled on the bed in front of him, reaching out to grasp his hands in hers, completely ignoring the sharp talons which had grown from their tips. "You kiss me back, Helen, and then you completely ignore me."

She sighed as her bottom lip wobbled for a second and she tried to steady her voice.

"Nikola... Nikola, I'm so scared."

He stood in front of her, completely vamped out, his chest rising and falling rapidly and his hands entwined in hers. She found it almost comical that one of the most dangerous abnormals on the planet was standing in front of her, ready for battle, but had on his face the most distressed and confused expression she'd ever seen.

"Scared?" he managed to rasp out and she nodded gently.

"I'm scared to let anyone in. I'm scared that, after nearly three-hundred years, I won't be able to truly give myself to anyone. Do you understand, Nikola?"

He gulped and blinked his wide black eyes at her.

"But... but it's me, I'm not just anyone... Helen, ljubav... It's me..."

Helen gasped slightly at his native term of endearment. He hadn't called her that in many, many years.

"That's precisely why I'm so terrified. Because I know... I know if I give myself to you, I'll never be able to let you go." She reached out then, letting one of his lethal hands drop, and touched her fingertips to his deathly white cheek.

He closed his eyes for a moment, leaning in to her touch.

"I can't fight it anymore, I can't be who you want me to be anymore. Ljubav, I can't not be in love with you a second longer," he forced out. He needed to tell her, he needed to end this charade, even if it meant that she no longer had a place for him in her life.

He heard her take a long, lingering breath and his eyes snapped open to look at her. With her hand still fluttering about his cheek and the other hand still clasped in his, she gave him the most powerful look he'd ever seen project from her stunning eyes. She was baring her soul to him.

"Can't you see it?"

"See? See what?"

"I thought it would be so painfully obvious," she whispered and he gazed, heartbroken, at her.

"Please. Say it," he begged, his voice coarse and booming and her hand clenched his even tighter.

"I don't think I can live not loving you either." She smiled softly up at him and he shut his eyes. "Niko... look at me, can't you see it? I'm in love with you."

He couldn't do it. He couldn't look at her. He'd been running for so long. Running away from her, running towards her, running away from himself. He was afraid that if he stopped, the illusion he'd created would shatter in front of his eyes.

"Niko..." she breathed, before leaning upwards and tugging his head down so that she could place a sweet, tender and lingering kiss on his lips. He sighed into the kiss. A first kiss of sorts. He knew where he stood, he knew what he wanted, he knew what she was willing to give, and it was heaven. It was the first kiss that was devoid of rushed feelings, hidden intentions or confused breathlessness that they had shared. He felt his body responding slowly to the sweet taste of her lips, gently pressed against his. His claws sheathed themselves and his teeth morphed under her ministrations. His eyes were the last feature to return to normal, the blue fighting away the black. Helen smiled softly against his lips as she felt his transformation revert, she also frowned as she felt him begin to pull away.

Having none of that, Helen relinquished her grip on his hand and took his face in both of her palms. She pulled him forcefully towards her then, forcing them into a passionate kiss which she took charge of, thrusting her tongue between his lips to taste him and groaning throatily at the sensation. She winced as she felt his teeth elongate again, the rough treatment nudging his inner vampire out. She forgot the pain though as his arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her up from her kneeling position to be flush against his strong body. She gasped at the closeness and thrust her fingers into his wild hair, their kisses growing more frantic by the second and their moans of approval ringing out through her large bedroom.

Helen almost screamed as she heard the distant trilling of her cellphone back on the bedside table. She whimpered at the loss of contact as Nikola gave an almost feral growl and tore himself away from her. He was next to her phone in an instant, picking up the sleek piece of technology he growled and slammed it into the wall once, his abnormal strength crushing the shiny plastic and leaving a slight indentation in the smooth plaster of the wall. Breathing raggedly he looked to the woman kneeling on her own bed, her eyes just as dark as his and her breathing just as intermittent.

"No more interruptions," his voice was dark and deep and Helen shuddered in anticipation. He stalked over to her, his solid black eyes burning into her and making her swallow hard. She reached out to him but as he was about to reclaim her lips as his, she stopped him.

"The system... the alarms... my phones..." she said softly, and he shot her a confused glance. Pulling herself together, Helen tried to form a coherent sentence, "I... I need to shut off the system... no more interruptions," she whispered huskily and he nodded. The restraint he was exhibiting showing on his face. She kissed his lips softly before sliding off the bed and heading for her door. Just before exiting she turned to the flustered vampire who stood at the foot of her bed, his eyes riveted to her.

"Make yourself comfortable," she breathed and gave him a seductive smile before slipping out.

Helen Magnus had shut off every possible device that could possibly interrupt her and Nikola, her office being the central hub of all such things. No more phones, no more pagers, no alarm system, no way to reach her. Her body was thrumming in excitement as she made her way back to her bedroom from her office, each step she took taking her closer to something she'd longed for for more than two centuries. As she pushed open her own door her hands were shaking, her stomach fluttering and her breathing coming in short gasps as she realised she was about to get an interruption free night with the man she'd been in love with for quite some time.

As she caught sight of him though, her heart melted. Nikola Tesla was lying, half-naked, on her bed, his face semi-buried in one of her goose-down pillows, snoring softly. She smiled softly at his exhausted form and padded over to her bed. He had said that he hadn't slept in a week and even a vampire needed a few hours sleep every couple of days.

He'd removed his jacket, waistcoat and dress shirt, his torso gloriously naked and toned. Helen fought to keep her eyes from straying deliciously over the muscles and she pulled back the covers softly. He'd also divested himself of his pants and shoes, leaving him in nothing but a simple pair of dark boxers. Helen bit her lip slightly and shuffled under her duvet, pulling the covers over her sleeping vampire as well. She snuggled close to him as quietly as possible, placing her head on the same pillow as his and staring at his sleeping face. His brow was slightly furrowed and his nose twitched every so often.

Sighing happily, Helen reached out under the covers and found his hand. Entwining her fingers in his she lifted his arm up and darted in so that she was pressed up against his chest. She gasped slightly as he shuffled in his sleep and clasped his arms around her waist, pulling her against him even more and burying his face in the crook of her neck.

"Ljubav..." he mumbled against her skin and his warm breath made goose-flesh appear instantly over her entire body. Shivering slightly she closed her eyes and breathed deeply, his scent invading her senses and her mind. She smiled as she fell asleep in his arms, enjoying the feeling of slipping into unconsciousness with her vampire. They'd finally stopped running.

**I'm straight in a straight line**

**Running back to you, yeah**

**Straight in a straight line**

**Running back to you**

* * *

><p><strong>Love and *snuggles*<strong>

**xx**


End file.
